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According to the poetry of the Midrash Tanḥuma, Bereshit 1:1, the words of the Torah were inscribed “black fire on white fire.” For many years, I’ve wanted to look deeply into the black fire and visualize the full spectrum of the Torah’s sources, hidden within the black fire but revealed through a critical analysis of its layers of redaction. Below, I’ve set the text of the first Torah portion in the annual Torah reading cycle, using color-coding to distinguish the stratigraphic layers forming the composition of the Masoretic text according to the Supplementary Hypothesis presented by Tsemaḥ Yoreh in his Kernel to Canon series of books (2013-2017) and his website, the Sources of Biblical Narrative. As Dr. Yoreh explains,

The Supplementary Hypothesis asserts that the Pentateuch was composed by several different writers. This reflects an overwhelming academic consensus on Biblical authorship, even among scholars who do not subscribe to the Supplementary Hypothesis in particular.[….] According to the Supplementary Hypothesis, Biblical narrative is layered. No editor took a blowtorch to the parts of the Bible he disagreed with and destroyed them; if he had, we would not find these repetitions and contradictions. Instead, Biblical narrative began with a coherent, foundational bedrock, which over time accreted more and more storylines. Unlike geological processes, though, this process of addition was deliberate. What happened if one author disagreed with his predecessor’s storyline or worldview? He did not simply take an axe to the narrative; instead, he attempted to bury his predecessor’s point of view by repeating his own over and over again, thus skewing our understanding of the story in new ways. Every generation of readers sees the world differently, and thus every generation of writers seeks to adapt their predecessors’ cultural heritage to their own situation. We are not meant simply to dismiss earlier stories; rather, the intention of later writers is to transform our understanding of those stories via their additions.

Legend

⬛ Most of the book of Deuteronomy (sefer Devarim) is considered the composite of three layers of redaction, ‘D1,’ ‘D2,’ and ‘Dp.’ Together, these layers (commonly referred to as the ‘Deuteronomist’) are thought to have formed by a complex process that reached probably from the 7th century BCE to the early 5th. This strata is primarily responsible for incorporating the law code of Deuteronomy into the Pentateuch. D1, as it is called, also adds a layer of redaction concerned with theodicy in the books of Joshua-Kings. D1 appears here in BLACK text.

⬛ This strata, called D2, shares a particularly non-Judean perspective following the split between the north (Ephraim/Yisrael) and the south (Yehudah) after the reign of Shlomo haMelekh, a perspective that was ignored by D1 (and successive authors). In Deuteronomy, D2 adds hortatory (sermons) to D1’s narrative introduction at the beginning of Deuteronomy (the focus of which is the observation of the commandments and divine justice), and otherwise supplements D1’s work. (A few verses in Parashat Bo in the book of Exodus are also attributed to D2.) D2 appears here in RUST-BROWN text.

⬛ This strata “reflects the strength and demands of the Jerusalem priesthood” following upon the reforms of King Yoshiyahu in the mid- to late 7th century BCE. The third Deuteronomist (and the latest) is the most easily identified, since they are the Deuteronomist most interested in Priestly themes such as purity, proper sacrifice, and the priests. This third Deuteronomist seems to have confined his additions to the book of Deuteronomy (almost exclusively confining himself to hortatory and laws). This layer, referred to as ‘Dp’ (for ‘Priestly’), appears here in DARK GREEN text.

29 9 “You are stationed today, all of you, before the presence of YHVH your elo’ah: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officials, all the men of Yisra’el, 10 your little-ones, your wives, your sojourner that is amid your encampments, from your woodchopper to your waterhauler, 11 for you to cross over into the covenant of YHVH your elo’ah, and into his oath-of-fealty that YHVH your elo’ah is cutting with you today — 12 in order that he may establish you today for him as a people, with him being for you as Elohim, as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, to Avraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Yaaqov.”

13 “Not with you, you-alone do I cut this covenant and this oath, 14 but with the one that is here, standing with us today before the presence of YHVH our elo’ah, and (also) with the one that is not here with us today.”

15 “Indeed, you yourselves know how we were settled in the land of Mitsrayim, and how we crossed amid the nations that you crossed; 16 you saw their detestable-things and their idol-clods, of wood and stone, of silver and of gold, that were with them — 17 (beware) lest there be among you a man or a woman, a clan or a tribe whose heart faces away today from YHVH our elo’ah by going to serve the elohim of those nations, lest there be among you a root bearing-fruit of wormwood and poison-herb; 18 for it shall be when he hears the words of this oath and blesses himself in his heart, saying: ‘I will have shalom, though in the stubbornness of my heart I will walk’ — with the result of sweeping away the watered and the parched (alike),[1]Targum Yonatan translates this idiomatic phrase, “so that he will add presumption to the sins of ignorance.”19 (that) YHVH will not consent to grant-him-pardon, rather, then the anger of YHVH will smoke, along with his jealousy, against that man, and there will crouch upon him all the oath-curse that is written in this document, and YHVH will blot-out his name from under the heavens. 20 YHVH will separate him for ill from all the tribes of Yisra’el, according to all the oath-curses of the covenant that are written in this document of Torah/Instruction.”

21 “Then shall say a later generation, your children who arise after youand the foreigner that comes from a land far-off, when they see the blows (dealt) this land and its sicknesses with which YHVH has made-it-sick: 22 by brimstone and salt, is all its land burnt, it cannot be sown, it cannot sprout (anything), there cannot spring up in it any herbage — like the overturning of Sedom and Amora, Admah and Tsvoyim that YHVH overturned in his anger, in his venemous-wrath. 23 Then shall say all the nations:‘For what (reason) did YHVH do thus to this land, (for) what was this great flaming anger?’ 24 And they shall say (in reply): ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of YHVH the elo’ah of their fathers that he cut with them when he took them out of the land of Mitsrayim: 25 they went and served other elohim and prostrated-themselves to them, elohim they had not known and that he had not apportioned to them. 26 So the anger of YHVH flared up against that land, to bring upon it all the curse that is written in this document.27 So YHVH uprooted them from their soil in anger, wrath, and great fury, and he cast them into another land, as (is) this day.'”

30 1 “Now it shall be: when there come upon you all these things, the blessing and the curse that I have set before you, and you take them to your heart among all the nations where YHVH your elo’ah has thrust-you — away, 2 and you return to YHVH your elo’ah and hearken to his voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your being, 3 YHVH your elo’ah will restore your fortunes, and have-compassion on you: he will return to collect you from all the peoples wherein YHVH your elo’ah has scattered you.”

4 “If you be thrust-away to the ends of the heavens, from there YHVH your elo’ah will collect you, from there he will take you, 5 and YHVH your elo’ah will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, he will do-well by you and make you many-more than your fathers. 6 YHVH your elo’ah will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, to love YHVH your elo’ah with all your heart and with all your being, in order that you may live.”

7 “YHVH your elo’ah will place all those threats upon your enemies and on those-that-hate-you, that pursue you; 8 and you, (if) you return and hearken to the voice of YHVH and observe all his commandments that I command you today: 9 YHVH your elo’ah will make you excel in all the doings of your hands, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your domesticated animals, and in the fruit of your fertile-earth, to good-measure, indeed, YHVH will return to delighting in you, to (your) good, as he delighted in your fathers — 10 if you hearken to the voice of YHVH your elo’ah, by keeping his commandments and his laws-what is written in this Sefer haTorah/document of Instruction — if you return to YHVH your elo’ah with all your heart and with all your being.”

11 “Forthe commandment that I command you this day: it is not too extraordinary for you, it is not too far away! 12 It is not in the heavens, (for you) to say: ‘Who will go up for us to the heavens and get it for us and have us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 13 And it is not across the sea, (for you) to say: ‘Who will cross for us, across the sea, and get it for us and have us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 14 Rather, near to you is the word, exceedingly, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it!”

15 “See, I set before you today life and good, and death and ill: 16 in that I command you today to love YHVH your elo’ah, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his laws and his regulations, that you may stay-alive and become-many and YHVH your elo’ah may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.”

17 “Now if your heart should face-about, and you do not hearken, and you thrust-yourself-away and prostrate yourselves to other elohim, and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that perish, you will perish, you will not prolong days on the fertile-earth that you are crossing the Yarden to enter, to possess.”

19 “I call-as-witness against you today the heavens and the earth: life and death I place before you, blessing and curse; now choose life, in order that you may stay-alive, you and your seed, 20 by loving YHVH your elo’ah, by hearkening to his voice and by cleaving to him, for he is your life and the length of your days, to be settled on the fertile-earth that YHVH swore to your fathers, to Avraham, to Yitsḥaq and to Yaaqov, to give them!”

The Masoretic text presented here is from Rabbi Dr. Seth (Avi) Kadish’s Miqra al pi ha-Mesorah. For the translation in English, I have adapted the translation of Everett Fox in the Schocken Bible (1997), mostly to re-Hebraize divine names, place names, and personal names. In place of “beasts” or “animals” for behemah, I specify “domesticated animals.” Instead of “soil” for adamah, I say “fertile-earth” (as distinct from arets — earth, which includes non-arable land). Aside from these, I have made minor punctuation changes.

“פָּרָשַׁת נִצָּבִים | Parashat Nitsavim (Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20), color-coded according to its narrative layers” is shared by Aharon N. Varady (transcription) under the contributor's Fair Use Right (17 U.S. Code §107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use), in respect to the copyrighted material included. Any additional work that is not already in the Public Domain is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project, which he founded and directs. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin, Ministarot Nakeniשְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. Besides his transcription work, Varady occasionally translates prayers and contributes his own original work. (Varady also serves as editor and administrator of the Open Siddur Project website, opensiddur.org, and is an outspoken advocate for open-source in Judaism more of which can be read about in this interview in the Atlantic Magazine.)

The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Tanakh for Rabbinic Judaism. It was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries CE. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation known as the Masorah.

The book of Deuteronomy (sefer Devarim) is considered the composite of two layers of redaction, ‘D1’ and ‘D2.’ Together, these layers (commonly referred to as the ‘Deuteronomist’) are thought to have formed by a complex process that reached probably from the 7th century BCE to the early 5th. D1 is primarily responsible for incorporating the law code of Deuteronomy into the Pentateuch and adding a layer of redaction concerned with theodicy in the books of Joshua-Kings.

The book of Deuteronomy (sefer Devarim) is considered the composite of two layers of redaction, 'D1' and 'D2.' Together, these layers (commonly referred to as the 'Deuteronomist') are thought to have formed by a complex process that reached probably from the 7th century BCE to the early 5th. In general, D2 shares a particularly non-Judean perspective following the split between the north (Ephraim/Israel) and the south (Judah) after the reign of Solomon, a perspective that was ignored by D1 (and successive authors). D2 thus adds a parallel summary of the Northern Israelean monarchs, and brings in the prophetic narratives of Elijah and Elisha which take place in Northern Israel during the time of the Northern Israelean monarchy. In Deuteronomy, D2 adds hortatory (sermons) to D1’s narrative introduction at the beginning of Deuteronomy (the focus of which is the observation of the commandments and divine justice), and otherwise supplements D1’s work. D2 also adds some verses to the book of Exodus (sefer Shemot) in Parashat Bo.

Biblical scholar Dr. Alexander Rofé posits a Deuteronomic strata which "reflects the strength and demands of the Jerusalem priesthood" following upon the reforms of King Yoshiyahu in the mid- to late 7th century BCE. The third Deuteronomist (and the latest) is the most easily identified, since they are the Deuteronomist most interested in Priestly themes such as purity, proper sacrifice, and the priests. This third Deuteronomist seems to have confined his additions to the book of Deuteronomy (almost exclusively confining himself to hortatory and laws).

The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libré Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture. If you like what you've found here, please help keep our project alive and online with your financial contribution.

ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established."–Psalms 90:17

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